Refrigerated food locker room



May 8, 1945. G. B. QUATMAN REFRIGERATED FOOD LOCKER ROOM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. '22, 1943 swam/tom Gear? 2 ,3 quabnaw May 8, 1945. G. B., QUATMAN REFRIGERATED FOODLOCKER Roowi Filed Dec. 22, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 G0Igquabnaiv v I) ll -Patented May 8, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE nnr'mdnaa'rnn FOOD LOCKER ROOM i George B; Quatman, Lima, Ohio I Application December 22, 1943, Serial No. 515,202

a claims, ('01. 62-1 02) This invention relates to food locker rooms of the type in which bankscf lockers for meats, fruits, vegetables and the like are arranged ,within the room where it is desired to keep the temperatur of the food relatively low so that it may be stored for a substantial period of time.

Heretofore food locker rooms are so refrigerated that customers entering the room to gain access to their lockers, must withstand the very cold temperature at which the room is maintained. It will be understood that in most of these rooms, the entire area is refrigerated and the cold is so intense that the customers can remain but a very short time within the room. This is not only costly-but a waste of energy. Refrigerating coils are used forcooling these locker rooms and it is necessary that the coils be cleaned of the frost by hand which is a most uncomfortable work due to the extreme cold which must be maintained at all times.

Some locker rooms have been constructed so that. the room that the customer enters has a normal temperaturebut the bank of lockers must bebi'ought to the customer from some cold 1 storage space by means of mechanically operated equipment which is diificult and burdensome for the inexperienced to operate. This necessitates bringing the entire bank of lockers into a space with high humidity, resulting in a condensation of this humidity in frost and ice .on

I the lockers, the door openings, locks and the I the area which is required to be refrigerated, and

eliminating any mechanical conveying devices to permit the customer to gain access to his locker and preventing any other lockers than in cleaning refrigerating coils ordinarily employed for refrigerating food lockers.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear and forpurposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of a portion of a food locker room showing the banks of lockers in position;

Figure, 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional comprises a room R of any suitable dimension.

Arranged within the room may beany desired number of food locker banks B having any desired number of food lockers arranged in vertical piles or banks which are spaced from the next adthe one the customer wishes to gain access to from being exposed to higher temperatures and higher humidity, l An object is to produce a locker room in which the series of lockers are refrigerated in such manner that the individual locker is exposed to the cooling influence of circulating air on a plurality of sides, one side having a door ac- 1 cessible from an unrefrigerated room, thereby contributing to the comfort of customers, reducing the area necessary for refrigeration and eliminating the dimculty heretofore experienced jacent pile and arranged'in a manner hereinafter to be described. Since the construction of the individual rows of lockers will be the same in each instance, description and illustration of one is deemed sufficlent.

As indicated in Figure 1, it will be understood,

that the bank of .lockers B is mounted on a floor having subjacent heat insulating material F such as cork. The sides and back S also are provided with heat insulating material and above the ceiling is likewise heat insulating material C. Any desired heat insulating material well-known to those skilled in this art, may be employed for this purpose.

As shown on Figure 1, there are three piles of lockers indicated at i, 2 and 3. The individual lockers ill in these piles constitute in this instance, a compartment which may be of metal or other heat conducting material closed on all sides except for th front which has a hinged door i l of constructionto provide satisfactoryand efficient insulation and sealing, the same being indicated on Figure 21 The doors H are accessible outside of the insulated area and free from the extreme cold.

Above the various banks of lockers is an air duct l2 and a duct I3 is provided adjacent the tionto the adjacentside wall to enable the air to be drawn back to the refrigerating unit through a duct 16. It will be understood that each pile of lockers is spaced from the next adjacent pile to'provide vertical air ducts l8.

From the above description, it will be understood that air from a refrigerated source is forced by means of a blower Binto the duct. l2 and around three or more sides of each of the food lockers 10. The front or access door ll of each locker is not subjected to the cold air. After the then passes through the ducts above mentioned most remote stack of lockers, such as at 3, thus affording a control for a uniform quantity of air at each group of lockers due to any pressure differential that may occur at the first group of.

lockers over the air pressure at the most remote roup of lockers, or increased quantity to offset decreased temperature, as desired. Thus, although the air at the lockers most remote from the refrigerating source may be at a somewhat lower temperature, 'or' lower pressure, neverthe-- less by baflling or deflecting the air stream, a

cold air has; completely passed around all of the lockers, it is returned to the refrigerating machine M through the return duct l6. Detail description and illustration of the refrigerating machine M and the blower system B is not given because it will be readily understood by those skilled in this art. Sufllce it to say that the flow of .cold air at the desired temperature is maintained continuous and in a substantially closed circuit and the cold air is employed only to refrigerate the lockers without refrigerating the aisles between the banks of lockers. In this manner the cost of refrigeration issubstantially reduced as well as affording greater comfort to the customers using the lockers.

It is desirable that the cold air entering the a locker compartment travel at a relatively slow speed in order to afford the best element of time in which to absorb temperature from the food lockers and after the cold air has traveled its course among all of the lockers and thus absorbed its heat to return it at as rapid speed as practical from the locker space. For this reason,

- air duct l2 through which the cold air enters is constructed proportionately larger than air duct L5 through which the airreturns to the source of cold air supply.

It will be. manifest that the banks of lockers may extend a considerable distance because, as

greater volume of air and uniform cold dlstribu-- tion may be brought into direct contact with the several sides of these lockers, thereby to maintainthem at the desired temperature. It must also be noted that the only means of the cir-, culated air to return to the source of supply'is through duct I8 which opens to the refrigerated chamber only in the corner of the locker cham-w ber remote from the blower]; thereby creating partial vacuum at that point. Thus the entire'ff quantity of air induced into the chamber must pass all locker stacks to absorb the heat before it can be returned to the source for recooling,

From the above it will be readily apparent that the cold air does not at any time come into contact with the contents of the locker thereby militating against dehumidificatiori of the food within the locker.

It is to be' understood that numerous changes in details of construction, a-rrangfment and-opabove mentioned, the number of locker piles such as I, 2 and 3, may be considerable as, for example, to extend from one end of the locker room to the other. As a consequence, those piles closest to the source of refrigerated air will come in contact with the coldest air, whereas those at the extreme end remotefrom the refri erating source will be exposed to air whose temperature is somewhat increased. It is, therefore, desirable that the more remotethe piles are from the refrigerating source, the more the air should be deflected or bailied about the individual locker units. With this in view, a series of fins or baf- -fles 20 are disposed at the top of each locker eration may be effected without the spirit of the invention especially as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A food locker comprising an enclosed room, a compartment within and forming a part of sa d room and insulated therefrom, a plurality of banks of food lockers within said compartment spaced from each other, the lockers of each bank opening directlyinto the room through said front, an insulated door individual to each locker for closing the front thereof and'the same being accessible from within said room thereby toenable a patron to gain access to a locker'from the room and without being subjected to the tempera I ature of the compartment, means for introducing cooled air at one end of said compartment, and

a return duct for'withdrawing air from said compartment, said return duct being disposed at the bottom end of the compartment beneath said banks and communicating with the inside thereof at a remote point from said air inlet.

j 2. A food locker comprising an enclosed room, a compartment within and forming a part of said room and insulated therefrom, a plurality of banks of food lockers within said compartment remote the pile is from the refrigerating source, I

the longer will be the baflles, thereby to deflect a greater volume of cold air to those lockers more remote from the refrigerating source. The farther the lockers are from the refrigerating.

source, the moredeflection of the air stream is effected. The opening in the air duct I! through which the air passes to passage I8 is also smaller ,at the first opening, increasing in size with each succeeding opening to the largest opening at the spaced from each other, the lockers of each bank opening directly into the room through said front, an insulated door individual ,to eachlocker for closing the front thereof and the same being accessible from within said roomthereby to enable a patron to gain access to a locker from the room and without being subjected to the temperature of the compartment, and means pro viding a closed air system including means to introduce cold air to one end of the compartment and to withdraw air therefrom at the same end,

the latter having a return. duct communicating with the remote end of the compartment.

3. A food locker comprising an enclosed room,

a compartment within and forming a part of said I a '-room and insulated therefrom, a plurality of banks of food lockers within said compartment spaced from each other, the lockers of each departing from bank opening directly into the room through said front, an insulated door individual to each locker for closing the front thereof and the same being accessible from within said room thereby to enable a patron to gain access to a locker from the room and without being subjected to the tem-- perature of the compartment, means for intro- 4. Food locker as claimed in claim 3 comprising deflectors for each locker bank for deflecting or bailling air to the respective bank, the deflectors increasing in area as the banks become more remotely spaced from said last end wall so that the more remote the locker bank is from said last end wall, the greater will be the volume of air circulated about the same.

5. Food locker comprising a room, a compartment within the room, said compartment having top, bottom, back and end walls, insulation sealing the top, back and end walls of said compartment, a plurality of vertical banks of food lookers within said compartment, each bank being spaced from the top and bottom walls of said compartmentto provide top and bottom air ducts, means sealing the bottom air duct from said banks to provide a return air duct beneath 1 same, there being an opening at one end of said compartment for communication with said return air duct and the space between an end bank and the adjacent side wall of the compartment, said banks being spaced laterally from each other with the front thereof open to said room, insulated door means providing a direct closure for the lockers of said banks and being accessible trom said room, and means for introducing under pressure refrigerated air into the air duct at the top of said banks and for withdrawing air from said return duct.

-6. Food locker comprising a room, a compartment within the mom; said compartment having top, bottom, back and end walls, insulation sealing the top, back and end walls of said compart ment, a plurality of vertical banks of food lockers within said compartment, each bank being spaced from the top and bottom walls of said compartment to provide top and bottom air ducts means sealing the bottom air duct from said banks to provide a return air duct beneath same, there being an opening at one end of said compartment for communication with said return air duct and the space between an. end bank and the adjacent side wall of the compartment,

said banks being spaced laterally from each other with the front thereof open to saidtroom, insulated door means providing a direct closure for the lockers of said banks andbeing accessible from said room, means for introducing under pressure refrigerated air into the air duct at the top of said banks and for withdrawing air fronr said return, duct, and fins fordeflecting air at the top of each bank causing the air to pass downwardly along the sides thereof, the fins for the individual banks gradually increasing in area from the inlet end of the compartment to the outlet end thereof.

GEORGE B. QUA'I'MAN. 

